Ecowas salutes Cote d’Ivoire and other west African teams at 2012 Afcon

The west African body hails the region's teams that gave a good account of themselves at the recently concluded competition in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea

14 Feb 2012 21:22:00

By Lolade Adewuyi

More On :  Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast (Getty Images)

The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) Commission has commended the Cote d’Ivoire national team for a gallant performance at the finals of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

The Elephants were the losing finalists and the last west African team in the tournament. A statement by the regional economic group noted that the Ivorians had done well.

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“The Commission notes that although the Elephants did not win the coveted cup, they have done the region proud by winning the tournament’s fair play trophy in addition to clinching the runners-up medal, after a pulsating grand finale against the Chipolopolo of Zambia that ended in a penalty shootout.”

Ecowas also commended the other seven teams from the region that participated in the competition. West Africa presented seven representatives for the tournament, the most from any of the regions in Africa.

“The Commission is proud of the seven teams that represented the region at the 16-nation continental tournament, three of which (Ghana, Mali and Cote d'Ivoire), reached the semi-final stage.

“As always, the performance of the Ecowas teams brought joy and pride to millions of community citizens and once more confirmed the status of the region as the powerhouse of African football.

“The Commission would like, at the same time, to wish the region’s representatives at the tournament more successes in subsequent Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, especially the next edition taking place in South Africa in 2013 and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil,” said the Commission.

Ecowas is the regional body that encompasses the 16 countries of west Africa.

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19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.

"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.

"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."

"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."

Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
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We're getting plenty of people saying it was boring. PLENTY. But Spain scored seven goals in eight games at the World Cup and I didn't hear too many of their fans complaining. Or as Fran Stinchcombe points out on Twitter: "If we had lost but played free flowing attacking football would these people still have moaned?"
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No, no, no. I'll have none of that Emile Heskey shouting anymore! Hello, it's me, it's me, it's that D-O-Y-L-E. Yes, I'm Joe Doyle, and I'll be here for all the reaction to that England game. First things first, how did everyone see that game? Good performance? A touch boring? Let me know on Twitter.
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